The Council - Episode 4: Burning Bridges (PC) Review

When it comes to story-driven adventures, Big Bad Wolf's The Council has been one of most interesting underdogs of 2018. Sadly, while it started with a flawed, but otherwise very enjoyable, crime thriller with some heavy occult vibes, and with a promising skill mechanic, Episode 2 and 3 didn't really manage to impress. The sad news is that the same can be said about the fourth episode, with the really sad news being the fact that there's only one left...

Unlike previous episodes that had their ups and downs, Burning Bridges is a - thankfully linear - series of flaws, with the very first one simply ruining The Council as a whole. What's that? Why, the fact that past choices don't seem to matter. Yes, some interactions will be mildly different, but that's simply not enough in a game such as this. The perfect example? Depending on his puzzle-solving skills or reflexes, there's a slight probability for Louis to be severely injured after Episode 3's end... but no one will seem to really care, besides a mention here and there.

The next problem is how this ruins the mystery of it all, and in the worst way possible. To be more specific, this finally answers the question of whether there's a supernatural element at play in here or not, but it does so by telling instead of showing. Furthermore, the big reveal comes off as a tad rushed, and doesn't manage to "shock" the player like it was supposed to. Finally, the revelation comes coupled with an additional dialogue-specific skill, which, in all honesty, is great as an idea, but is implemented in a way that it, again, won't really make a difference.

Burning Bridges generally has a much tighter pacing, which is a welcomed change, but it also feels (and is) much shorter that the rest of the chapters so far, and doesn't even have the courtesy to end on a cliffhanger, and, as a result, make players anxious for the grand finale. In terms of plot and gameplay, this is one more episode that simply lacks the, admittedly, much better balance of the very first one, which, besides having a better focus on what it wants to be, also managed to offer a little bit of everything, whether that's conversations, puzzle-solving, or exploration.

Is this a bad episode? Not really. On its own it's... okay, but it's hard to give it a break and just hope for the next one in line to be better, mainly because a (hopefully) very good 40% can't fix a disappointing 60%. Then again, this was to be expected from Big Bad Wolf as, despite having a great concept on its hands, it never even attempted to fix any of the problems of its debut creation. What all this means is simply this: the main reason to play the upcoming Episode 5 will mostly be to get it over with, and that's never a nice thing to say for an episodic release.

Cubed3 Rating

5/10

Average

While there's one more chapter left to play, Episode 4: Burning Bridges puts the final nail in The Council's coffin by bringing along the same mistakes, plus some new ones, and with the quality of the storytelling taking a big, sad plunge.